How can Basis stay ahead of the pack?

The announcement of the Basis Peak marks
another leap forward in wearable tech, and wrist worn trackers are getting seriously powerful.

Until now accurate heart rate sensing has only been
possible using a chest strap – which is an optional extra on top of already
expensive GPS running watches. With the Basis Peak, however, the Intel owned
company reckons its sensors can accurately track your exertion from your wrist,
something that the biggest names in technology are yet to crack.

The focus has been working on the optical
heart rate sensor, which uses LEDs to ‘see’ through skin and monitor the minute
colour changes caused by blood pulsing though your arteries.

Cardiovascular insights

“Cardiovascular insights are fundamental to
understanding exertion, so that’s where we focused,” said Fassett.

"With accurate sensors we can help overcome
problems like indoor cycling, which is nearly impossible to track using motion
sensors, because on the surface it appears you’re doing next to nothing. With
Peak we can triage that and give you correct information about your calorie
burn.”

Poor heart rate monitoring and inaccuracy
have plagued activity trackers, many of which have to estimate miles and steps
with sensors that are easily fooled.

“These are hard problems to solve,” said
Fassett. “We identified the issues and we started on them earlier than our
competitors,” he continued. However, Fassett is under no illusion that it can
hold its lead forever.

“There are huge companies out there full of
very talented people so it won’t be long until they catch up.”

So does that mean that Basis’ days are
numbered? Or with Intel backing, can it stay one step ahead of the likes of
Sony and Samsung?

“The innovations we’ve made with Peak are
profound, and it’s going to take a while for our competitors to catch up. But
we’ve built this lead due to our focus and by being in the game the longest,”
he said.

However, the innovation is far from over,
and heart rate monitoring is just the beginning of a bevy of sensors that are
destined to supercharge wearable tech. If Basis can start to innovate those as
it has done with heart rate sensing, it could stay one step ahead of the big
boys.

That's the goal, with Fassett telling us: “There are other biometrics we’ve
identified that can help us achieve our goal of helping people lead healthier
lives, and we will set ourselves about solving those problems with the same
focus.”